


The Lost Clown

by BleedingSparkles



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, The Joker (DCU) - Fandom
Genre: Batman - Freeform, Children, DC injustice universe, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Harley Quinn - Freeform, Injustice, Injustice Joker, Joker (DCU) - Freeform, Jokers daughter, Original Character(s), Single Parents, The Joker - Freeform, The Jokers daughter, dc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-06-18 05:44:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15478908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BleedingSparkles/pseuds/BleedingSparkles
Summary: The Joker gets more than he bargained for when he encounters a strange child on the streets.





	1. Chapter 1

It was a cold, wet and rainy night in Gotham city, The Joker was casually walking through a particularly quiet part of the Narrows where he knew Batman wouldn’t be observing. He always had a way of knowing when his old friend was near, almost like a sixth sense. It was completely silent at this time of night, especially in this area; all that could be heard was the sound of the rain making contact with the scenery and The Jokers footsteps going through puddles. He had grown to love just strolling around at night; he was one of the most feared men in all of Gotham, people wouldn’t dare bother him so he could pretty much do as he pleased.

Ever since Harley abandoned his side, half of his life had become a lot simpler and he had missed the isolation that he used to have before he met her. She had brought out a softer side of him which he didn’t much appreciate, but now that she was gone he was able to return to his old self again. No more of having to share a bed with something that suffocated him every night with her cuddles, no more of having to share food and argue over who ate the last of the cereal, no more of feeling obliged to be nice and many more things. Despite all the positives of not having her around, He did find it rather disappointing. She had changed her path and became more of an anti-hero, but he didn’t let that bother him too much, if anything he found it rather amusing. Currently The Joker was too busy with the fact that hero’s from elsewhere were making an appearance, such as Superman and even Wonder Woman to worry about his other half. 

As he continued his stroll he began to reminisce; she had gotten tired of his temper and lack of care, she thought he never paid any attention to her, especially when she was trying to seduce him, half the time he wouldn’t even give her a second glance. He had sighed at these reasons, she had completely forgotten why he took an interest in her in the first place. Although he did use her to escape Arkham that time, He did love her name and the way her mind worked, it was almost like they were meant to be. He didn’t care about her body or appearance, it was when she laughed, smiled and the way she acted that always caught his attention. He loved her for that but obviously he never told her, but he thought she always knew. 

As he walked past an alleyway He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of rustling and small sobbing sounds coming from the darkness. He stopped and narrowed his eyes with a tilt of the head into the alley, allowing his soaked hair to fall to his face. He wanted to ignore the strange sounds and keep walking, but unfortunately his curiosity got the better of him. He pulled out his phone from his purple trench coat pocket, and shone the torch light down the alley before heading towards the noise. It wasn’t an incredibly deep alley but it was completely shadowed from the street lights. It had two large dumpsters sat against both the tall building walls which were severely cracked, there was a number of soggy cardboard boxes and newspapers scattered about the area and a tall wooden fence at the end of the path.

He slowly walked towards one of the large bins where the sounds were the strongest and quickly pointed the light at the hidden side. He scrunched up his face in a mix between shock and confusion; there on the floor, sat a very young little girl with her knees pulled in and her head down, she had blond hair done up in pigtails using pink ribbons, she wore no shoes and multi-coloured leggings with matching sleeves with a purple tutu and vest. She was completely drenched as strands of hair were sticking out in different directions, and her body was shivering considerably as she quietly cried into her knees. She halted her sobs with a sniff and lifted her head at his presence, but instantly flinched at the harsh light and covered her sapphire blue eyes with one of her arms, she couldn’t have been any older than six. He also noticed that she was covered in what looked like white body paint from head to toe, although it had been washed away by the rain as it was smudged in with the skin tone.

“My, my, what have we here?” The Joker spoke in a sly voice as the girl looked up and continued to sob and sniff. “What is such a young thing like you doing out here?” he continued. The girl just tried to look past the intense light so she could see who was talking, but was unsuccessful as she began blinking rapidly. The Joker could tell that she had no idea who he was as a smile spread across his features; he could have some fun with this. 

“I-I ran away” she snuffled as she rested her cold cheek on her knees and looked away from him,  
The Joker crouched down to the girl so as to provide fake empathy, “and why did you do that?” he spoke patronizingly.  
“My mummy doesn’t want me” she sobbed,  
“Well you must be insane to run away in this weather, to this part of town, at this hour”  
The girl looked back to his direction briefly; “It’s been said” she sniffed again. 

The Joker chuckled to himself at her response. He was aware that revealing his own identity to this child would cause her to run, which is why he hadn’t done it yet. He wasn’t usually big on kidnapping as a whole but this time he was considering it; maybe it would catch batman off guard and put the spice back in their little game.

“What’s your name, kiddo?” he asked cheerily  
“April” she answered cautiously as she wiped her nose with her sleeve,  
“That’s a cute name, do they call you Aprilfool?” he giggled  
The girl blinked up at the voice, “they do actually, it’s my nickname.”  
The Joker let out another chuckle, “I can see why, being out here on your own makes you kinda foolish, or just nuts”  
“People call me a lota things like that,” she responded simply  
“Well April, Maybe you should go to Arkham asylum if you’re that crazy.”  
She continued to shiver and rub her arms while thinking of a response, “I heard people are mean there,”  
“Who? The patients or the doctors?” he smiled  
“All the people that work there,”  
The Joker tilted his head slightly, “and how would you know?”  
She sighed sadly, “My mummy told me.”

The Joker suddenly began to ponder this strange child in front of him; most children don’t talk to strangers so easily, and they tend to only pretend to run away but never actually do. This kid however was different, he couldn’t sense any fear in her whatsoever; it was like she didn’t care, this kid really must be crazy. “What do you hope to gain from running away little one?” he then asked as he came out of his thoughts, the girl just shrugged.  
The Joker decided to keep interrogating her for a little while longer; he was enjoying watching her suffer in the weather, and he thought it would be more fun to gain her trust before he crushed it. “I’m sure your mummy is very worried about you, why do you think she doesn’t want you?” he asked in the same patronising voice as before.

“cuz I heard her say she doesn’t like being around me cuz I’m too much like daddy,”  
“Does mummy not like daddy?”  
She shook her head, “I try to be perfect for mummy but it’s just so hard,” she hiccupped as she began to choke up again.  
The Joker rolled his eyes, he never did liked kids. “Maybe you should go live with daddy instead”  
The girl stopped snivelling, “mummy says daddy’s a bad man and he wouldn’t care about me”  
“Well your mummy doesn’t sound very nice herself” he said in defence, “and what do you mean by he wouldn’t?” he then asked slowly with curiosity.  
She paused in contemplation, “I’m a secret” she whispered  
This child was getting more interesting by the minute, he suddenly thought. “So your daddy doesn’t even know you exist?” he asked in disbelief as she nodded, “and they say I’m evil” he muttered under his breath so she couldn’t hear.  
“She says he’s a monster and that I’m better off without him,”  
“Clearly” he commented sarcastically as he turned his head to the side. 

At this point his knees were starting to ache so he stood back up as she watched him inquisitively, he then put his phone back into his pocket leaving them in darkness again. “What makes you like your dad?” He then asked quizzically as he stretched his legs, seeing how her mother called her father a monster he wondered what made this innocent looking child like him.  
She thought for a moment, “Well, my mummy says I have his sense of humour,” she then paused with hesitation “and that I’m bad.”  
The Joker raised a brow at her as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light and he was able to see her a little, “how are you bad?” he asked with interest.

The girl went silent; she just looked away as if in shame. The Joker tilted his head at her again as he leaned on the dumpster, “ya know the term ‘being bad’ means something different for everyone, it depends on what you think is right, and It’s the same with the term ‘perfect,’ what’s perfect to one person might not be perfect to another.” She lifted her head up to him again at his remark as she took in his words, “anyway” he started awkwardly as he noticed that he had just unconsciously said something mildly comforting to a child.

“I doubt your daddy is that bad,” the girl didn’t respond, she just continued to look at him  
“Is your daddy as bad as the criminals seen on TV?” he then asked with a toothy grin,  
“Like who?” she spoke quietly, hugging her legs again.  
“Hmm… is he as bad as… The Joker for example?” he walked around a bit as he spoke, he could barely contain the laughter building up inside him at this point. He couldn’t wait to see the look of terror on her face when she knows who he is.  
“It’s funny you should mention him actually” she sniffed with a slight giggle of her own, which took him off guard as he turned back to her “and why is that?”  
She paused, “The Joker is my daddy.”

There was a heavy silence as those words were spoken. The girl was afraid that she had crossed the line, she probably shouldn’t have just revealed the big secret but she found herself caught up in the moment. She always did that a lot, sometimes she cares about the things she says and sometimes she doesn’t. She could proudly tell a stranger about her anger issues causing her to try and stab other children with a pencil, and then a minute later she would be completely silent and not want to share anything. 

The Joker just stared at her, “I’m sorry, I’m going to have to ask you to repeat that” he told her sternly yet unnervingly calm.  
The girl hunched down and tried to hide herself behind her knees, “I-I’m The Jokers daughter” she repeated,  
He continued to stand there as if trying to suppress an emotion, he was about to speak when he cut himself off and went back to being silent as he held his chin in thought. The Joker breathed in deeply as he then ran his hands through his hair, and tried to compose himself of the information he was just given. He kept thinking to himself that she must be lying, but then again what would she have to gain from doing that.

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” she asked him rhetorically, bringing him back to reality. “But my mummy is crazy and I hear so is my daddy, and people always say I’m crazy too.” The Joker was still standing there listening to her with uneasy breathing, “Your mother is Harley Quinn?” he finally asked in a deep voice.  
“Yeah” she muttered,  
All cheeriness had left his voice, “Why would your mother not tell your father about you?”  
“I don’t know” she answered truthfully.  
She could now make out a tall silhouette of the person she had been speaking to with the help of the street lights from outside the alley, as he was now closer to the entrance. “How did you know who my mummy was?”  
At first he didn’t respond, he just continued to think with his back now turned away. “Kid, I am The Joker” he grumbled over his shoulder at her, before walking back out onto the street so she could finally see him as he tuned and faced her. He heard her let out a small gasp as she then got to her feet and approached him slowly, taking her ragged purple backpack with her.

They just stood there staring at each other underneath the yellow glow of the street light. She saw the very man she had always wished to meet, and she couldn’t believe that he was now standing right in front of her. Despite all the negative things people have said about him she was not afraid, even though he wore no shirt underneath his coat, allowing her to see all his scars and that his hair hid part of his face.  
The Joker on the other hand, saw a bizarre young child, completely soaked and covered in dirt as her body trembled against the harsh cold and rain. He couldn’t believe that this child was his; he just couldn’t comprehend that he was responsible for someone’s very existence, he is usually known for taking life away, not giving it. Now that she wasn’t hiding her face from him, he was able to study her features and he could in fact see both himself and Harley in her face. She had Harley’s eyes and face shape but she also had a wide mouth, pointed nose and sharp eyebrows. He was furious beyond belief for so many reasons and didn’t know what to do. For the first time in years he was lost, and had no ideas. 

This new information obviously made him rethink what he was going to do with her, and after realising nothing would be done with them just standing there, He found himself suddenly pulling his jacket of off his shoulders and throwing it around the girl, before scooping her up and carrying her the quickest way back to his hideout without saying a single word. It happened so fast that the girl didn’t even have a chance to react, not that she was going to. She didn’t care nor ever did about what he had done or what he was known for, she wasn’t exactly perfect herself. She just rested her head against him, and enjoyed the nice warm jacket which was wrapped snugly around her form. 

After a little while of walking, he glanced down and noticed that the girl had somehow fallen fast asleep. He shook his head and sighed, “What has my life come to? I get rid of one needy female and I’m introduced to another, who happened to come out of the first one.” He felt strange even carrying her; he had never done this sort of act towards a child before, or anyone other than Harley for that matter. But seeing as it was his own, he didn’t really seem to mind as much. 

He hoped that the child had miss heard her mother when she said that she didn’t like her, because that wouldn’t make any sense; Harley loves children and has always wanted her own, she never stopped badgering him about it. He had so many questions such as; when did it happen? And more importantly, why didn’t she tell him? He intended to use the child to get these answered, he knew Harley would be looking for her and she’d have to talk to him to get to her whether she liked it or not.


	2. Chapter 2

The Jokers current hideout was an old building which used to be used as a guest house; some of the windows were boarded up, the antenna had half fallen off of the roof, along with the tiles, and the paint job was crumbling. It was very discreet where no one knew he lived, not even Harley.  
Once inside, he took the bundled up child to the lounge and carefully placed her on the old leather sofa. It was a large room with a fireplace in the centre with a TV on the mantelpiece, the sofa sat directly opposite it against the wall and a purple stripy rug was placed between them, along with The Jokers favourite red armchair which was placed next to the sofa. 

He then left the room to grab a few towels and change into a dry pair of purple slacks and a green shirt. When he returned to the lounge the girl was still sleeping peacefully, although she had turned his coat into a makeshift cocoon that he had to chuckle at slightly. As this was an obvious indication that she was still cold, he placed the towels on the end of the sofa and lit the fireplace to allow some warmth into the room, before proceeding to slouch in his chair to think about the situation. His eyes then glanced over to her bag which had fallen out of her grasp and onto the floor. He leaned over and picked up the damp object to study, he’d be able to learn a lot about her if he looked at some of her belongings.

It was a very tatty looking thing which obviously had a lot of ware, as the stitches were coming undone in places and it had been stained with different coloured paint and glitter glue. He unzipped the main compartment and began to explore; he found a bunch of average stuff you would find inside a child’s bag. Such as a sweet stash, marbles, a bottle of bubbles and a floppy multi-coloured teddy bear, with a stitch pattern similar to Sally from the nightmare before Christmas. He tilted his head at the toy and placed it to one side before diving back into the bag. This is where things started to get interesting; he quickly found a small box filled with thumb tacks, a water pistol which was filled with a very bubbly substance, a small bottle of oil, a miniature paintball gun and even a collection of pocket knives. He just blinked down at the contents in astonishment then over towards the sleeping child, “oh we’re gonna have a lot of fun” he muttered with a grin before zipping the bag back up and returning it to the floor.

Not long after that the girl began to stir, making small noises in the process which caught The Jokers attention from where he sat, thinking. “Have a nice nap?” He spoke as she slowly sat up with the jacket still wrapped around her.  
She quickly began to look around the room in confusion before looking over at The Joker, “Where am I?” she asked sleepily as she rubbed her eyes.  
“You’re at my place kiddo… well one of them,” He smiled  
She looked around the room again and was about to speak but was quickly interrupted, “Now there’s plenty of time for questions later, first stand up” The Joker spoke firmly as he stood up himself.  
She did what he asked without question and The Joker then took the coat off of her and left to hang it up, before returning to inspect the child further. Her clothes were still freezing cold, damp and very grubby as well as the rest of her, and she began to shiver again without the coat.  
“Hmm” The Joker muttered as he held his chin in thought while the girl hugged her arms, he suddenly snapped his fingers then quickly left the room again and headed off upstairs. When he came back she was standing in front of the fire trying to warm up, but she quickly brought her attention back to him with curious eyes. “First things first, we need to get you into some dry clothes” he stated simply while holding up one of his old purple pyjama tops.

“Okay” she responded happily as she then began to try and pry her damp clothes off with struggle, as the fabric clung to her body. He was about to leave the room again when he noticed her struggles, she couldn’t quite seem to get her top passed her small rib cage. He furrowed his brow in contemplation before sighing as he placed the clean clothing down and began to help, and when she noticed him about to aid her she cheerily lifted her arms up in co-operation. 

As he helped her, he quickly noticed that the body paint she had on was beginning to come away. Although it wasn’t the white tone he was expecting but the fair tone. He narrowed his eyes and quickly paused his actions as he grabbed one of her thin arms to investigate. She briefly gave him a quizzical look before realising what he was doing. She watched hesitantly as The Joker suspiciously dragged his finger down her arm, which left a white trail behind it. He then turned it round to find the skin coloured substance covering his finger.  
He looked at her with an expressionless face as she gave him an uneasy smile, “well you’re just full of surprises aren’t you?” he asked her rhetorically, he then showed her what was on his finger “what’s this?”  
“Paint” she answered shyly,  
He gave her a dead-pan look “why are you wearing it?” he then asked in a serious voice.  
She looked at her feet for a moment before looking back at him “mummy says it’s so people don’t know I’m yours” she told him quietly. She had been afraid of how he was going to react when he noticed her other secret, and she could definitely tell that he wasn’t happy.

“You have the same skin tone as me?”  
“A- and I have green hair” she stammered in the same small voice,  
The Joker glanced up at her head briefly and noticed it did have a slight green tint to it, “she dyed it?” he asked in disbelief.  
April merely nodded as The Joker exhaled heavily and lowered his head as if in defeat, “she also doesn’t really like the way I look”  
The Joker lifted his head at her statement, “what makes you think that?”  
“She always tells my aunt to make sure I look like this when she comes over, she doesn’t like seeing me the way I actually am.”  
The Joker just blinked at her, “this just keeps getting better and better” he chuckled with a shake of the head. 

“Can I have a bath?” she asked him innocently after a short pause,  
he raised an eye brow at her question “you want a bath?” He asked in surprise.  
She nodded at him enthusiastically “the paint makes me itchy.”  
He continued to stare at her for a few more seconds before sighing and standing up straight, “I suppose, plus it might be worth getting that dirt off of you”  
“Yay!” she squeaked happily while jumping up and down, “can I have bubbles?”  
The Joker giggled down at her at how quickly her mood changed, before turning and leading her out of the lounge “sure you can.” 

She quickly followed after him excitedly, he then decided to take this as an opportunity to show her around the building, considering she was probably going to be staying there a while. He showed her the other rooms on the bottom floor first, which consisted of the large kitchen that had worktops and cupboards against each wall and an island in the middle, a once dining room the same size as the kitchen that The Joker now used to hold meeting with his henchmen, as it had a long table with chairs surrounding it, and to Aprils excitement; there was a decent sized garden with very tall brick walls surrounding it, a large tree in the bottom right hand corner, and a makeshift shooting range with equipment that was clearly stolen from a gun store.

The Joker then moved onto the second floor which held the bedrooms and bathrooms. The two largest rooms where used as The Jokers bedroom with an en suite bathroom, and his study that Joker told her to never enter without his permission, these rooms were a few doors apart with a pretty much untouched bedroom between it that was likely going to be hers. The room had a few bullet holes in the walls with the odd blood splatter here and there, which to The Jokers surprise didn’t seem to bother April at all. The other bedrooms where converted into storage rooms and weapon rooms, and then finally they came to the main bathroom which was the largest out of the two. It was pretty standard looking, with a claw foot bathtub, a simple shower, a toilet and sink with a mirror medicine cabinet, and a deep green oval shaped rug on the floor.

He allowed her to enter the room first as she gazed around with curiosity while he moved to fill the tub, “now I’m gonna warn you” he began after turning the taps to get the right temperature, “I’ve only ever given my hyenas a bath, and that was only once, and it didn’t even go well” he laughed.  
“You mean Bud and Lou?” she asked as she sat down on the lid of the toilet and began to swing her legs back and forth.  
“Yep” The Joker confirmed as he poured a large amount of light blue bubble- bath into the water. “Your mother always did treat them like her children, it wouldn’t surprise me if she classed you as their sibling.”

April tilted her head in thought as she looked up at the cracked ceiling, “I don’t know what she saw me as, she kept changing her mind.” The Joker peered over at her as she continued to mull over his comment, so far she hadn’t told him a single good thing about Harley’s parenting skills, and he couldn’t figure out why it bothered him so much. The same way it internally bugged him whenever someone beat up Harley when she was still with him, he hated showing his emotions and he suddenly became aware that if he spent more time with this kid he’d likely encounter even harder to handle emotions.

“What do you mean she kept changing her mind?” he asked,  
“Well” she began while shifting slightly, “I lived with my aunt, so mummy couldn’t decide whether to call me her daughter or her niece.”  
He quickly turned his body to her fully “wait a second, so you grew up thinking your mum was your aunt and your aunt was your mum?” he asked with an amused smile. April nodded, “I got to admit, that is pretty funny” he laughed as he turned back to the tub and began to slosh the liquid around with his arm before shaking his hand dry and standing up, “now let’s get this over with.” 

The Joker had continued to ask her questions as he bathed her, that is when he wasn’t accidently getting soap in her eyes. He had learned that April found out that Harley was her mother when she overheard a heated conversation between Harley and her aunt about her. April had insisted on calling Harley ‘mum’ from that point on, much her dismay. She would also listen to their other conversations without them knowing; Harley would admit that even though she loved her, she hated being around her as she was more like her father. Harley always wanted her to be normal and nothing like herself or The Joker, and the fact that she was pretty much a miniature version of him was too much for her to handle and was the reason she barely visited her. In fact it was that very statement that caused April to run away, her and her aunt had gone to Gotham to visit Harley as a surprise. Harley was less than thrilled, They had sent April out the room so they could ‘talk,’ but when April heard Harley’s words she quickly climbed out of the window and took off running.

The Joker didn’t ask her anymore questions after that, in fact he didn’t say anything. He had even stopped to listen to her story when it got to the interesting part, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He found himself internally stewing as he continued to wash away the remaining hair dye, paint and dirt from her. He didn’t really know why he was so angry, yet he was, he was furious. Why should the fact that this kid was his make the difference? 

He had come across parents beating their child before, and he would instantly shoot them in the head for it. The child would always burst into tears as he said ‘you’re welcome’ but the anger he would feel for having seen that was nothing compared to this. That was always just a flash of anger, this was a burning rage just waiting to explode. April noticed his change as she was telling him her story by the way his expression darkened with every word she spoke, so she decided to go quiet for the rest of her bath. 

“Daddy, are you angry?” April suddenly asked innocently as The Joker was now drying her off with a fluffy purple towel while lost in his thoughts, he momentarily paused as if trying to adjust to what she called him. “I’m not mad at you” he then admitted calmly.  
“You’re mad at mummy” she stated simply,  
“Yes, I’m mad at mummy” He chuckled under his breath. The Joker has addressed Harley as many things but he never thought he would have to address her as ‘mummy,’ He found the whole situation just so infuriating yet hilarious.  
April still didn’t speak much as he finished his task, she had always been taught by her aunt and mother to be quiet when around someone who was mad. 

Once she was bathed and dressed, the two returned to the lounge. She was now happily sat on the sofa with her bright green hair loose around her pale face, underneath a red fleece blanket. The Joker didn’t even know if he was in control of himself in this moment, he had unconsciously token in a child off the streets, bathed and dressed her, given her warmth and had even made her a grilled cheese sandwich. It wasn’t until he was sat in his chair watching the girl eat, while she was snuggled underneath a blanket, with her teddy that he realised what he’d done. Yet it almost made him feel happy seeing her like this, compared to how she was just a couple of hours ago. 

“I hope you don’t mind sleeping where you are tonight?” The Joker suddenly asked, she looked over at him as he spoke with a mouthful of food before swallowing. “I don’t think you’d want to sleep on the bed in the spare room at the moment, it hasn’t been touched in god knows how long so it’s probably covered in dust and full of spiders” he added.  
April turned her nose up at the image, “I’m okay with sleeping here.”  
“Good, I’ll go get you a pillow” he replied as he then stood up and headed for the door.  
“Where will you be?” She asked just before he left,  
“I’ll be about,” he answered reassuringly “I don’t sleep much, I’ll just be upstairs” and with that he walked off. 

After he got her settled for bed, he decided to continue to sit with her for a little while longer while she finished eating.  
“When were you born, April?” The Joker suddenly asked, after she put her plate to the side,  
“The first of April, 2013” she answered happily.  
He blinked at her a few times, “April fool’s day?” he confirmed, “you...my daughter, were born on April fool’s day?” He repeated with humour in his voice.  
She nodded with a smile, “that’s one of the reasons Aprilfool is my nickname.” The Joker just stared off into the distance with a smile on his face, before finally bursting into a fit of laughter. 

Now it was April’s turn to look confused but she couldn’t help but smile and giggle as well, “what’s so funny?” she asked. Once The Joker had regained himself he stood up and ruffled her hair, “You are just such a perfect little bundle of laughs” he smiled “now lie down and go to sleep.” He then picked up her plate and strolled to the kitchen while turning the light off in the process, leaving her with just the glow of the fire. April instantly smiled wide as he left, he probably didn’t realise how much his last comment meant to her. He called her perfect, no one had ever called her perfect before.


	3. Chapter 3

After putting the child to bed, The Joker went straight to spend the rest of the evening in his study, as he felt like he needed to collect his thoughts away from her. He couldn’t seem to focus on anything when around the girl, even though he had tried to when he first brought her here. Everything that he had just done was done purely on impulse, and he hadn’t realised what the long term consequences would be. 

As soon as he had secluded himself behind the safety of the study’s door, He leaned his back against it and sighed heavily in relief. His study wasn’t the tidiest of places as it had raged dark blue curtains and multiple files, folders and screwed up pieces of paper that littered the entire room. A large wooden desk which faced the door was placed in the middle near the back wall, with a slightly out-dated computer on one end and various blueprints on the other. He did have some form of organisation which was a tall bookcase up against the left wall as you entered, it mainly contained more folders but there was the odd book here and there. And the other side of the room below the window, sat a very used, green sofa with a few springs out of place. Along with the lounge, this room also had a fireplace that was behind the desk, with a more or less unused mantel piece, apart from a bottle of whiskey and a single glass. The only negative part about the room was the many bullet and fist sized holes that covered the deep red walls. 

The Joker slumped down into his throne sized desk chair dramatically and rubbed his temples. “So many problems” he mumbled to himself. He glanced around the room in thought, briefly wondering what Harley was doing right about now. No doubt she had realised that the child was missing, but he wondered what she would do about it if she couldn’t find her herself. Would she ask Batman for help? Would she tell the police? and if she did how would she describe her? 

He also wondered what would happen with this kid in the long run, he wasn’t sure whether or not he actually wanted to give April back. Not necessarily because he wanted to keep her, more so out of spite. Why should he tell Harley that he is in possession of their child, when she never told him she existed? He leaned his elbow on the desk as he continued to think; but then again, that would mean that he’d have to look after her permanently. He wasn’t so sure about that possibility.

He had carried on thinking over things as the night drew on, but he did find himself checking on the child a few times to make sure that she was asleep and not wondering around curiously. His hideout wasn’t exactly child proof, and he didn’t think it wise to let her injure herself on the first night. 

........

When morning came around, it was no longer raining outside. Instead the sun could be seen amongst the dreary clouds of Gotham. It wasn’t a lot but it was enough to be able to seep through the gaps of the boarded up windows in the lounge, directly onto April’s face as she slept. She wasn’t too please about this, as she instantly scrunched up her face and groaned irritably. She rolled over and tried to hide her face inside the crack of the sofa from the light, but it quickly began to illuminate that as well. She groaned again but this time in defeat as she slowly sat up with a head of messy hair. She looked around, slightly confused before remembering the night before. Throughout the night, she wasn’t sure if what had happened was a dream or not, but upon waking up she obviously had to assume that it did happen, and it made her smile happily to herself. After what she had heard her mum say last night, the last thing she wanted was to wake up back with them. 

April wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and listened out for any sign indicating that The Joker was about, but the whole place seemed silent. She wasn’t sure what she was meant to do at this point, should she go find him or stay where she was and wait? She did feel a little shy as she had only met him last night, but then again she was also starting to get hungry. She chewed her bottom lip in contemplation, but was interrupted by her stomach which made a very distinctive rumbling sound. She took this as her answer and climbed off of the sofa, with her teddy close to her chest and wondered out of the room. 

She stopped when she got to the bottom of the stairs. She creased her brow, trying to remember the tour he had given her last night. She guessed that he was probably upstairs somewhere, so she quietly began making her way up as the floor boards creaked underneath her feet. Once on the landing, she peered down the dark corridor to the far right that had a large door at the end of it. She remembered him saying that that was his bedroom so she turned towards it, but didn’t get a chance to start walking as she suddenly heard light snoring which came from a big black door that stood off to her left. 

She now stood in in front of the door anxiously. She had guessed that this was probably his study, and that he said to never enter without permission. Her stomach was giving her permission that was for sure, but she didn’t know if that counted. She was also bored and knew that she couldn’t do anything until he was up, and she really hated being bored. She came to a decision and reached up on her tip toes to grab the handle, after giving it a few wiggles it finally came loose with a click. She slowly pushed open the door and peeked inside, the room was dimly lit but she was able to spot him slouched over the desk and peacefully sleeping on his arms. 

She cautiously approached his sleeping form, while avoiding the mess on the floor and made her way round next to him. After staring at him for a few seconds, she lifted a hesitant hand and lightly tugged on his shirt. “Daddy?” she whispered. The only response she got was a small grunt so she tugged a couple more times, “Daddy?”  
The Joker suddenly jerked upright in his chair, Startling April as she quickly took a step back. He rapidly shifted his head to either side in surprise, before his eyes finally fell on the small girl, who stared up at him and giggled at his reaction. He instantly let out a relieved sigh as he smoothed his hair back, “Kid, don’t do that” He scolded lightly.  
“Did I scare you?” she smiled.  
The Joker chuckled as he glanced at his desk briefly, to remember what he was doing before he dosed off. “I’m not often woken up by small hands while in my study, I must admit.” April giggled again from behind her teddy as he checked his watch “April, It’s six in the morning. What are you doing up?” he groaned as he slouched in the chair.  
April continued to stare up at him happily, “The sun was in my eyes and I’m hungry.” 

This only made him groan again while massaging his forehead. “Oh yeah, I forgot that it can get quite bright in there when the sun comes out” he muttered. “And what do you mean you’re hungry, Isn’t it a bit early for breakfast?” April only shrugged. Even though The Joker somewhat knew what he was getting himself into, he still couldn’t help but slightly regret his recent decisions as he stared down at the expectant child. He sighed audibly before reluctantly getting up out of his chair, as April instantly began jumping up and down excitedly. 

He sluggishly made his way down into the kitchen with April following close behind. After turning on the kettle to make himself some coffee, he began rummaging through the cupboards to find something suitable for her to eat. It was proving quite difficult as he wasn’t sure what children ate, and most things he had required some form of assembly which he wasn’t in the mood to do. Luckily he spotted a box of Cheerios at the far back of one of them and pulled it out. He briefly inspected the side and contents to see how edible they were, before shrugging to himself and setting it down on the counter in front of April, who had climbed onto one of the stalls. 

“I’ll tell the boys to get some shopping later, but until then you have to make do with plain old cereal” He spoke aloud as he retrieved the milk from the fridge and got out a bowl and spoon.  
“The boys?” April asked as she watched him prepare the meal while spilling milk everywhere.  
“My Henchmen, I don’t do all my antics alone ya know” He told her as he then slid the bowl towards her. 

.....

He sat and watched her happily tuck into her cereal with his coffee curiously, “Do you not feel homesick or miss your aunt and mother?” He asked “most children tend to be very clingy.”  
April paused and met his gaze as he spoke, “I am clingy when I want to be, but right now I’m mad at them.”  
The Joker laughed to himself as he looked down at his drink, “do you often have a temper?”  
“People seem to think so” she answered as she continued eating, “mummy says I get it from you.”  
“Well, she’s probably right about that at least” He responded as he took a sip of his drink. “This leads me to have to ask” he started as he leaned his arm on the counter. “If you have my temper and as much like me as people say; what type of things do you do when you’re angry?”

She glanced to the side as she thought of an example but stopped and looked towards him anxiously, “You won’t get mad will you?”  
The Joker raised his brows in surprise, “April my dear, getting mad at you for doing something to make yourself feel better is the last thing I’ll do” he smiled. This seemed to have eased her worries as she returned his smile. “I’m guessing your other family wasn’t too thrilled?”  
She just nodded. The Joker leaned forward, “well?” he coaxed.  
“Okay, I was once sat drawing in class, and this boy who was sitting next to me just looked at my drawing and told me that I can’t draw. I thought it looked okay, so I just took my pencil and stabbed him in the leg and said “I can draw blood.”

The Joker couldn’t help but burst out laughing, “April that’s brilliant!” he told her through breaths.  
April smiled up at him, “You really think so? I got in a lot of trouble for it.”  
“Pumpkin, that kid got exactly what he deserved” he answered once he had regained himself. “Ignore what they say, if it makes you happy then I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.” The Joker then got up from his stool and headed over towards the sink, but was suddenly knocked off guard by the girl who had swiftly hopped off her chair, and was now entwining her arms around the back of his legs, hugging him tight. He paused and his eyes widened at the contact.  
“Thank you daddy,” she murmured.  
Unsure of what to do and not being one for hugs, he just lifted his arm to peer down at her. He blinked a few times before patting her head gently and stepped away from her. “Don’t mention it, kiddo.”

A little while later, The Joker had managed to preoccupy April with cartoons. After she had eaten, she didn’t seem to know what do and Joker didn’t know what do to with her either. The only thing he could think of was to let her watch TV, otherwise she would have just been following him around. She was very curious about his place and it was obvious that she wanted to explore, but it was still too early for that so he just left her in the living room, put on cartoons and told her to stay put as he had things to do. 

In all fairness, he wasn’t expecting her to listen. But she seemed to favour watching the classic Tom and Jerry cartoons. She constantly laughed at it, especially whenever Tom got hurt. The Joker also enjoyed the show, and had caught himself watching it from the doorway while looking at emails on his phone. It wasn’t until he heard the sound of a car pull up outside, that he drew his attention away from the show completely. He had called for his men to show up, as usual. He usually had ten henchmen, but he had only called for his most loyal and trusted to show up this morning. He needed some supplies for the new guest and that meant that they would be aware of her. 

She seemed to be pretty fixated on the screen and had it up fairly loud as she sat cross legged in the middle of the sofa, so The Joker just slowly pulled the door closed just before the two men entered though the front door. 

The taller man was The Jokers second in command, Rocco. He had the build of a bouncer, short messy brown hair and wore jeans, a black shirt and a large brown cargo jacket. The other had a similar build to Rocco, but was just a few inches shorter and had been working for The Joker for almost just as long. His name was Benny, He had blonde hair that was combed back, wearing a camouflage jacket with a black top and trousers. 

“Greetings gentlemen” The Joker beamed.  
“Good morning, boss” The two spoke in unison as they then followed him into the dining room.  
“Any news, boys?” He asked happily as he hopped onto the table with his legs dangling and clasped his hands together. Although the two had been working for The Joker for so long, they still felt slightly nervous in his presence as they stood awkwardly. 

“Well, word is that batman has gone out of town, and that guy in black and blue has been spotted in his place” Rocco began.  
“Oh, interesting” Joker grinned as he leaned forward. “Well it’s always entertaining watching his lacky’s try to be like him” he giggled.  
“But other than that not a lot has changed, boss” Benny added as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “We did see Harley Quinn about last night though, she seemed very panicked about something.” 

“The Joker’s grin increased at that information. “Did she now?” he asked out loud in a low voice. The Two men stayed silent, awaiting further instructions. “Anyway, speaking of Harley” The Joker then chirped up as he straightened his posture in excitement. “I have a Job for you two” he grinned deviously before jumping to his feet. The two shared curious looks as their boss wondered back out towards the living room, before following. 

They entered the room and paused immediately when they saw the girl. The Joker had grabbed the remote and muted the TV, “Boys, this here is April” he gestured towards her eagerly as she looked up at them. “April, This is Rocco and this is Benny” he motioned towards them both, individually.  
“Hello,” April smiled as she gave a small wave.  
The two Looked at her uneasily before returning the pleasantries, “Um, Hello April” they spoke, one after the other.  
“Now, if you two somehow can’t tell, this is a child that I didn’t know I had with Harley” The Joker began. “She ran away from her mother last night which is why you probably saw Harley, and I just happened the come across her in an alleyway. Long story short, she’s going to be staying her a while, so I need you to get some supplies.”

The Two continued to stare bewildered. “Rocco,” The Joker directed. The henchmen instantly straightened himself at the call of his name. “You’re in charge of getting what she needs, I think it’s quite obvious that she needs some cloths.” The Joker then gestured to the oversized shirt that she was wearing. “So clothes, food and anything else that you think she might need.”  
“Don’t tell my mummy,” April suddenly added as the three of them looked down at her.  
The Joker smiled at her before looking back at the Henchman, "Yes, it is incredibly important that you don’t get caught doing this. People will be looking for her, and I believe that It would look rather suspicious if you are seen shopping for children’s things.”  
The two just nodded in understanding. “April, is there anything you want?” Joker then asked.  
“Um, Jelly!” She squeaked enthusiastically. 

The Joker glanced at the two men again, silently asking if they took note of that.  
“Sure thing, Boss” Rocco replied as Benny nodded.  
“Splendid, now off you go” The Joker grinned as the two then hurried out to accomplish their task. Once the front door was shut he checked the overhead clock before turning the sound back on. “Are you content with watching TV till they get back? I’ve got some stuff to do upstairs.” He calmly asked April as he put the remote down.  
She tilted her head at him “what stuff?”  
“It’s just businessy stuff, I’ll tell you about it later” he dismissed, not wanting to go into detail about what he does to a six year old. “Now stay” he commanded with his hand as if she was a dog, before heading out of the room and off upstairs as she watched.


End file.
